


Swimming Lessons

by TheTroninator



Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Nothing explicit, Oneshot, Post-Canon, Touching, Zed's self-esteem, Zeddison, kind of hot, kind of includes lore from the Addison's Moonstone Mystery thing, slight Zed angst, zombies 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTroninator/pseuds/TheTroninator
Summary: Addison takes Zed to a secret swimming hole and teaches him how to swim.
Relationships: Zed Necrodopoulus/Addison Wells
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	Swimming Lessons

With the sun beating down on Addison’s snow-white hair and practically melting Zed’s pale gray-green complexion, it couldn’t be more obvious that it was summer in Seabrook. School had just let out for the final time that school year, and for seniors Addison and Zed, for the final time ever. Addison began skipping toward her compact, pink car with her lanky, zombie boyfriend following close behind, admiring her athletic cheer-leader figure. “Hurry up, Zed!” she scolded as she practically dove into the driver’s seat. 

“What’s the rush?” Zed asked as he followed her in the same door, clumsily climbing over her into the passenger’s seat, just to be silly. 

She shoved his foot into the floorboard dramatically, with a smile creeping over her face. “I have somewhere special I want to take you,” she said.

“Another secret monster cave?” Zed teased, referring to the many adventures Addison had had over the last several years with the various supernatural beings that inhabited the otherwise prim and proper town.

Addison rolled her eyes. “Not quite,” she said, as she began driving toward the edge of town. “But it’s somewhere the werewolves showed me last weekend.”

“Wyatt?” Zed guessed, his voice tightening with familiar jealousy. Addison and Wyatt were close friends now, after Addison had helped the werewolves restore their moonstone last year at the Prawn, and Zed liked him too, but couldn’t help but be suspicious. Not because he was a werewolf, but because he had the best hair in school, the best smell, and the best teeth. This wasn’t just Zed’s opinion either, the yearbook proudly displayed Wyatt’s smiling portrait under every superlative. Zed only got Most Congenial. He was shocked that he and Addison didn’t get Cutest Couple, seeing as they were the first “interspecies” relationship at Seabrook. No, the honor went to Bree and Bonzo. Zed had gotten better about his self-esteem, which had been shattered during his first football season a few years ago. But he couldn’t help feeling inferior at times, especially with kind and beautiful Addison. How could she be happy with an ashen corpse-like boyfriend?

Addison blew air from her lips. “No, it wasn’t Wyatt. It was Wynter, actually. She wasn’t supposed to show me, but she did anyway.” Addison laughed. “I think the others forgave her, though.”

“Do we have permission to be there?” Zed asked, slipping into his familiar rule-following routine. 

“What happened to the Zed that busted out of the basement to try out for football? And the Zed who took me out after curfew to attend a Zombie mash?” Addison joked. 

Zed remembered those occasions fondly. His rule-breaking led to some of his most special moments with Addison. But that changed. “He got a heavy dose of reality,” Zed said bitterly. 

“Well, a little rebellion won’t hurt you,” Addison said, pulling her car off the road and to a stop at the familiar chain-link fence that outlined the forbidden forest where the werewolves resided. The forest wasn’t exactly forbidden anymore. The town decided that werewolves could come and go as they pleased, and the humans were slowly losing their fear of “monsters.” But the werewolves still hadn’t warmed up to humans, so for the most part, they stayed isolated and humans gave them their space. “Come on,” Addison said, turning the car off and gesturing for Zed to follow. 

He placed a hand on her shoulder as they weaved around and under trees. Addison periodically checked the compass in her phone to make sure they were headed the right direction. After spending so much time with the wolves, she had gotten pretty good at outdoorsy stuff. “I’m trying so hard not to question your judgement right now,” Zed remarked as he dodged a low-hanging branch. “But this seems like the kind of place where teens go to die in a horror movie.”

“You ought to know better than to take your cues from horror movies, since they usually portray you as the bad guy,” Addison said, throwing a sweet smile over her shoulder.

Zed laughed. “I guess you’re right.”

After a few moments, they came to a clearing with a sparkling pond. It seemed totally untouched by humans, like a mystical place. Zed half-expected to meet a fairy or some other mythical creature. He never knew about werewolves or vampires before, and apparently they were real, so why not fairies? Addison pulled Zed by the hand to the edge of the water and peered into it’s depths. The water was crystal clear with what appeared to be natural gemstones glowing at the bottom. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Addison said.

“Almost as beautiful as you,” Zed said, taking Addison by the hips and planting a kiss on her lips. 

Addison blushed and pushed Zed’s shoulder. “You’re so cheesy,” she said. 

He shrugged. “I guess I am.” 

Addison began shirking her clothes off suddenly and without warning. “Wynter said she likes to come swimming here sometimes,” she said as a means of explanation. Zed wasn’t looking at her, though. He felt uncomfortable with the unprompted stripping. “Something wrong?” Addison asked eventually. She must have noticed that he was staring into the distance.

“Um,” he said, not sure how to respond. Zombies didn’t really sweat, but still, he felt pin-pricks of tension building just under his skin. 

“I’m not naked or anything. It’s no different than if I were in a bathing suit, right?” Addison said, picking up on his hesitation. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he practically jumped. 

Zed took a deep breath. “Y-yeah. I guess you’re right.” He finally turned around and looked at her. All of her. He felt his throat constrict, because if he were to take a breath, he would come undone. “Totally the same thing,” he lied. “Just like a bathing suit.” Zed folded his arms awkwardly over his chest as she ran to the other side of the swimming hole. 

There was a small cliff on the other side, which she scrambled up on her hands and knees. She stood at the top and spread her arms dramatically. Then she brought her hands over her head and dove into the water. Zed gasped, thinking of all the ways Addison could get hurt as she splashed into the pond. The spray reached his face and he felt the cool droplets of water hit his skin. On his cold flesh, it was not exactly refreshing, but it wasn’t bad either. He waited for a tense moment, waiting for his girlfriend to surface. He looked under the surface where she could be clearly seen swimming like a mermaid. She looked up from under the rippling water and waved. Then she surfaced, taking a breath. 

“Great dive,” Zed said, sitting down at the water’s edge. He reached a hand out to place a wet tendril of white hair behind her ear. 

“Aren’t you going to get in?” Addison said, her voice kind of low and husky. 

Zed swallowed deeply, wishing he could dive in with her and touch her slick, wet body under the water. But he couldn’t. “Zombies can’t swim,” he said simply. 

“What?” she blurted. “Of course you can! Why not?” Her eyebrows furrowed.

“We don’t exactly have swimming pools in Zombietown. We never learned to swim. Did you ever notice that the swim team is the only school team with no Zombies on it?” Zed asked.

“So you’re afraid of fire and water?” Addison said, splashing some onto his pants. 

Zed huffed as he patted the wet spots on his ripped jeans. “I’m not afraid of either.”

“So get in,” Addison said, kicking away from the edge of the pond toward the center. She paddled around. “The water feels great.” 

“I can’t swim!” Zed repeated adamantly. 

“I can teach you!” Addison responded as she took another lazy lap around the swimming hole. “It’s easy, as long as you can float.”

“Ehhh…” Zed began to protest. 

“Come on!” Addison said. “Please?” She kicked back over to the edge of the pool and gave him the saddest, pleading expression.

“Alright, fine, but if I drown, you have to be the one to break it to Zoey!” Zed said, kicking off his high top sneakers. He undid his pants and let them fall to the ground. Addison didn’t look away like he did. He pulled his shirt over his head too and felt all the more exposed to the harmful rays of the sun, but more so exposed to Addison, who had never seen him in just his boxer-brief underwear. Zed walked around the grassy edge of the pond to a spot where the ground sloped more naturally in and began wading into the water. 

“Doesn’t it feel nice?” Addison asked, paddling over until she was just crawling along the bottom of the slope. 

“Eh,” Zed said noncommittally. His cool Zombie body didn’t really feel the relief that Addison’s human body did. But he was not going to ruin her fun. “It’s good.” Addison got to her knees and took Zed’s hand, pulling him down to sit in the water. He was fully wet now, and it just dawned on him that he didn’t have spare clothes. Or a towel. Or anyway to get dry. “Addison! We’re going to be all wet!” 

“Um, duh,” she said, still holding his hands as they rested in the shallow water. 

“How are you going to explain this to your parents?” Zed whined. 

Addison waved her hand. “Don’t worry so much,” she murmured as she began pulling him further into the water. “Just, float.” She laid onto her back and did just that, her face tilted toward the sun. It tickled her cheeks and highlighted her light freckles. 

Zed wanted to swim to her,to grab her. But she was drifting away across the water to a deeper side, the gentle breeze pushing her. So he followed her instructions, flipped onto his back, and attempted to float. Initially, he felt his hips and torso beginning to sink, and his impulse was to quickly put his feet back on the ground, but he relaxed instead and felt himself lifted. “Am I doing this right?” he asked.

Addison paddled to him. “Yeah, you got it. Now flip over to your stomach.” She guided his body with her hands, rolling him and supporting him from below the water. 

“I feel stupid,” he said, blushing at the contact of her warm hands on his cold skin. 

“Just kick your feet and paddle your arms,” Addison advised. “I won’t let you sink.” 

Zed followed her instructions. And he was indeed swimming. “Huh! Wow! I think I’m doing it.” 

Addison grinned as she doggy-paddled beside him. “You got it!” She picked up her speed as if to race him. He kicked after her, trying to catch up. She laughed at his attempts.

“If I didn’t have this Z-band on, I’d be swimming circles around you,” Zed said, gesturing to the wristband that prevented his Zombie-strength from overpowering him. He knew he had enough self-control to go without it now, and his friend Eliza did go without it most of the time, citing that she didn’t need the human government controlling her anymore. But for Zed, he liked the limitation. He didn’t want to be so strong all the time. He liked being more like Addison. And Addison’s supernatural obsession proved that she wanted to be more like him too. So it worked out well. 

Addison slowed and let him catch her. He encircled her with his arms and pulled her toward the slightly more shallow water where he could stand with his shoulder just above the water’s surface. He held her body so that they were eye to eye and he kissed her again, this time more slowly. Addison leaned into the kiss and wrapped her legs around his body for support. It was easy in the water, they both felt like they were floating. Zed moaned slightly.

“Easy there,” Addison said, pulling away slightly. “You’re not going to bite, are you?” 

“I might,” Zed teased as he kissed down her neck and nibbled on her shoulder.

Addison squeaked and started to twist to swim away, but Zed caught her around the waist and pulled her back to him. “Thanks for teaching me,” he said into her ear. 

“No problem,” Addison whispered breathily.

He had already broken so many rules today-- swimming in a secret werewolf swimming hole, taking his clothes off outside, getting wet with no way to dry off --why not push a little more? It felt a little wrong to be out in the forest, kissing and such with no care for if someone may pass by, but he didn’t want to stop now. He trailed his fingers down her torso, drawing lazy shapes on her stomach and around her belly button until he reached the hem of her underwear. He only paused when she shuddered. “Something wrong? Has no one ever touched you before?” Zed joked, knowing that he was her first and only boyfriend and that he had not dared to touch her bare skin like this before. 

“N-no, it’s not that,” Addison said. “Your fingers are just really cold.”

Zed released her. “Oh, sorry.” He said. 

He turned and kicked away, back toward the shallow waters until he could sit on the bottom of the pond.

He watched Addison paddled after him. She paused beside him, kneeling like she had moments ago when she first pulled him into the swimming hole. “It’s okay,” she said. “I liked it. It was just… shocking, that’s all.” 

“Really?” Zed said as she cupped his cheek. 

“Yeah,” Addison said in a low voice. “I didn’t want you to stop.” Zed felt his skin prickling again as she threw a leg over his lap to sit on him. She planted a kiss on his mouth. “I didn’t bring you out here to teach you to swim, you know.”

Zed gulped, but couldn’t help the smile creeping over his lips. Bree and Bonzo could have “Cutest Couple.” Zed would rather have this. 

After swimming, the wet underwear didn’t end up being as much of a problem as Zed had worried it would be. He and Addison laid in the grass and let the sun dry their skin, and when their underwear stayed damp, they just carried it in their backpacks into their respective homes, no questions asked.

**Author's Note:**

> I love this couple and I love these movies. I wanted to bring a slightly more mature fanfiction to this fandom and I hope you enjoyed! Thanks!


End file.
